Validation and culture adaptation of the Arabic version of the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants - Shortened Version (REAP-S): A Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Rasch Analysis Study
This study validates the Arabic version of the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants - Shortened Version (REAP-S) among 490 Saudi nursing students, demonstrating through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Rasch Measurement Theory that the instrument possesses a robust unidimensional structure, strong reliability, and good construct validity for assessing dietary behaviors in Arabic-speaking young adults.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed. It is not medical advice. Do not make health decisions based on this content. Read full disclaimer
Good health often begins with what we put on our plates, yet understanding the eating habits of young adults can be surprisingly difficult. Doctors and researchers know that poor dietary choices are a leading cause of serious long-term illnesses, but asking people to keep detailed food diaries is often too tedious for busy clinics or large studies. Instead, scientists rely on short questionnaires that act as a quick snapshot of a person's diet. For these snapshots to be useful, they must work just as well in Arabic as they do in English, capturing the same ideas without losing meaning in translation. If a question about "fast food" means something different in one culture than another, the results become unreliable, making it impossible to spot who needs help.
A team of researchers set out to ensure that a popular, brief diet questionnaire works perfectly for Arabic-speaking young adults. They took an existing English tool called the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants–Shortened Version, which asks thirteen simple questions about habits like skipping breakfast or eating fried foods, and carefully translated it into Arabic. But translation is only the first step; the team had to prove that the Arabic version measured the same thing as the original. They gathered data from 500 nursing students in Saudi Arabia, asking them to fill out the new questionnaire online. The researchers then used two different statistical methods to check the tool's accuracy. One method looked at whether all the questions pointed toward a single, clear picture of dietary health, while the other checked if the questions were ordered correctly from easy habits to harder ones, ensuring the tool could distinguish between a person with a generally healthy diet and one with a poor diet.
The results showed that the Arabic version of the questionnaire is a strong and reliable tool. The analysis confirmed that the thirteen questions work together as a single unit to measure overall dietary quality, rather than acting as a scattered collection of unrelated items. The questions were clear to the students, and the answers they gave fit the expected patterns, showing that the translation preserved the original meaning. For instance, the question about eating fewer than two servings of vegetables a day was the strongest indicator of overall diet quality, while skipping breakfast was the easiest habit for students to admit to, suggesting it is very common among this group. The tool successfully separated students with better eating habits from those with worse ones, proving it can be used to identify individuals who might need nutritional support.
This work matters because it provides healthcare workers and researchers in Arabic-speaking regions with a trusted, quick way to screen for poor eating habits. Before this study, there was a lack of rigorously tested, short tools for this specific population, which made it harder to address rising rates of diet-related diseases like diabetes and heart conditions. The researchers found that the tool is ready for use in both hospitals and community programs, offering a practical way to spot nutritional risks early. By confirming that the Arabic version works just as well as the English original, the study opens the door for better health monitoring and more targeted nutrition education for young adults across the Arab world.
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